Time of the Black Sun
by RainbowDoubleDash
Summary: "Black horn, lost horn, found where it lies - Ebon Queen with crimson eyes - Beneath the earth she starts to rise - Sovereign of Shadow seeks her prize." As a black sun rises across Equestria, the mane six must face and ancient and dark foe...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Introduction**  
>It has been a <em>long<em> time since I've written a fanfiction - a decade, at least. I think I'm _very_ out of practice. Nevertheless...here we go! Gotta get back into the habit at some point. As much as _Friendship is Magic_ is largely built on character pieces and "slice of life" stories, however, I can't help but want to write a nice adventure piece, so that's what this is.

Thanks for reading, by the way! 

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

_**Ponyville**_

Twilight Sparkle wrinkled her snout as she looked out her window. About an hour ago, she'd realized that she should have been asleep long ago, and promised herself only one more chapter of _Goldhoof's Gargantuan Guide to Grimoires_. Of course, one chapter had turned into two, then three…then four…

But she was _certain_ that she had seen the stars fading from the sky as Princess Luna collected them and began lowering the moon. The lavender unicorn stood from where she had ended up on the floor next to her bed, and stretched, trotting over to her window and glancing outside. From the looks of things, it was midnight – the moon was suspended high in the sky, and the stars were scattered…oddly. Twilight realized she didn't recognize the constellations – it was as though Princess Luna had essentially just thrown the stars into the sky and been done with it. But the pony had been to the library's observatory at the start of the night – the stars hadn't been arranged so haphazardly…and Twilight could hear the morning birds chirping to each other, waking themselves up and getting ready for a new day.

But it was midnight…wasn't it?

There was a knocking on the door, the sudden loudness of which nearly caused Twilight to leap from her coat in fright. Composing herself, she descended from where she had been, on the library's second story, and down the front door. "Who is it?" She called. Not that she didn't trust the ponies of Ponyville – it was just that old Canterlot habits didn't die easy.

"It's Applejack," came the familiar twang of the orange pony's voice from the other side of the library's door. "Ah think we've got ourselves a problem."

Twilight called up a little bit of magic to open the library's door, stepping aside to let her Stetson-hatted earth pony friend inside. "What time is it?" The unicorn asked, barely suppressing the urge to yawn. Now that she wasn't reading, the hours of missed sleep were beginning to catch up with the pony.

"That's sort a' why I'm here, Twi," Applejack said as she came in, scuffing her hooves on the mat inside the library as she did to wipe off mud. The weather schedule had called for a light rain over the past few days, and the roads outside were still muddy. "Ah get myself up every morning' at the crack a' dawn. Only this mornin', there weren't no dawn to get up to! Thought maybe you might have an idea as to what the hay is goin' on."

Twilight glanced out the library window, at the unmoving moon in the sky. "I thought something was wrong," she intoned, scuffing the floor with her hoof as she thought aloud, again fighting the urge to yawn. "A few hours ago I thought I saw the night drawing down, but when I looked a moment ago the moon was back up and the stars were out of place. It's almost like Princess Luna decided to put them back up in a hurry…"

"Maybe," Applejack said. "She hasn't been back long, maybe she's outa' practice or somethin', so decided to give it another go."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence between the two ponies. After a second, Applejack began to fill the void. "Or – "

"No way," Twilight interrupted, before her friend could finish the sentence. She saw where it was going, but refused to even _think _about the possibility. "Just _no,_ Applejack."

The earth pony shook her mane. "Okay, Twi. But ah think you should maybe write Princess Celestia, see what's goin' on."

Twilight sighed, though the action caused her to finally lose the battle against yawning. "I can't," She said after a moment. "Spike's in Canterlot right now on royal business," she said, glancing out the window at the motionless moon. "Look…maybe you're right. Maybe it is just Princess Luna…out of practice, or something. I'm sure that pretty soon she'll start drawing down the night again."

"Ah hope so, Twi," Applejack said, clearly unsure. After a moment, she laughed a little. "Maybe Princess Celestia caught a cold or somethin'. That's probably all."

"…sure," Twilight said, deliberately deciding against wondering if the immortal, physical goddess alicorn that was Princess Celestia even _could_ get sick. She decided instead to focus purely on the one upside to it apparently being midnight. "Well, as long as it _is_ still night, I guess I should get some sleep. And I guess you've got a good reason to sleep in for a change. Right?"

The orange earth pony guffawed a little at that, as she headed out the library's door. "It'd have to be pitch-black for _that_ to happen," she said as she opened the library door again. "Moon n' stars are bright enough, and them apples don't care much if'n it's day or night. Need to be bucked one way or another."

"Right. See you later, Applejack," Twilight bid farewell as the earth pony wandered off. Twilight, meanwhile, trotted off and upstairs, climbing into her bed. Despite how tired she realized she was – there were times, not very often but they did exist, where she _hated_ books and how enrapturing they were – she found herself with eyes wide open for the longest time, simply staring at the moon in the sky.

By the time exhaustion finally overcame the lavender unicorn, it still hadn't moved even an inch.

* * *

><p>"Something is <em>officially<em> not right," Rainbow Dash said as she sat atop her self-made cloud palace, watching the stars and the moon and how much they were _not moving_. Without the movement of the sun or moon to judge time, the pegasus had no way of knowing just how long it had been since dawn was _supposed_ to come; by her best guess, it should have come at least four or five hours ago. Instead, the night continued to stretch onwards even as Dash leapt from her home and began a slow glide over Ponyville.

She was, by now, not the only pony to notice. Natural inclinations had woken up most ponies in Ponyville by now, and each of them had turned their eyes to the still moon and wondered what the hay was happening. More than a few times, a pony had called up to her and asked if she had any idea, and each time Dash had been forced to respond with a negative.

More than a few times, she'd also heard somepony mention the name _Nightmare Moon_. Dash;s mood grew grimmer at that as she made a beeline for Twilight's tree-library and let herself in through Twilight's window, which was open – the weather schedule had, after all, called for today to have been a hot day to help with all the mud outside. The lavender unicorn was curled up under a blanked on her bed, mouth hanging open slightly and front hooves embracing her pillow like it was a teddy bear. At the sight of that, Rainbow Dash's first instinct was to leave the unicorn as she was, at least until she could find her other four friends and give them something to add to their pile of things to tease Twilight about.

A glance outside, however, reminded the cyan pegasus that she had come here on serious business, and that any teasing of Twilight would have to wait. Never a particularly gentle pony, Dash walked over to Twilight's bed and grasped the sheet she'd covered herself with, yanking it off quickly. "Alright, up and at 'em," She said aloud. To her surprise, Twilight did little more than roll over and curl up into a ball. She must have been _exhausted._

"Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, jabbing her friend with a hoof. "Come on, wake up. The sun hasn't come up and – "

"Mnph," was the only response Dash got, as Twilight grabbed a pillow and put it over her head, still ninety percent asleep. "Told you already, Applejack…nothing wrong…just wait a few hours…"

The cyan pegasus shook her mane a little in agitation. "Uh, it's Rainbow Dash, not Applejack."

Twilight turned to look at Rainbow Dash, eyes only partly open and yawning. "Oh," she said. "Hi, Rainbow Dash. Why are you here?"

In agitation, the pegasus jabbed a hoof out the window. "That," she said, indicating the still-unmoving moon in the sky. "It should have been dawn hours ago, Twilight!"

The lavender unicorn opened her eyes fully as she regarded the moon. She snapped fully awake at the sight of it. "Still nothing?" She asked as she got out of her bed. "Applejack was here earlier…we guessed that maybe Luna was just out of practice or something."

"Yeah, or she's turned back into _Nightmare Moon_." Dash said, before Twilight's still sleep-addled reaction could stop her.

She shot her friend a glare. "_No_." She said firmly. "Didn't we just do this last Nightmare Night? We _saw_ the Elements of Harmony transform her back. We _saw_ how happy she was on Nightmare Night."

Rainbow Dash lifted herself up off the ground with her wings. She was always more comfortable flying than standing anyway, but this gave her a few feet on Twilight as well while she made her point. "But we still need to do something. Where's Spike? We need to write a letter to – "

"We can't, he's in Canterlot right now," Twilight said, not intimidated. "And we don't need to write a letter because Nightmare Moon _can't_ be back."

"Oh, sure," Rainbow Dash said, crossing her forelegs in front of her as she hovered. "It was just _some other pony_ who can control the rising and setting of the moon."

Twilight winced at that. "Maybe she's sick?"

"Can the princesses even _get_ sick?"

"I don't think so, no," Twilight said as she walked over to the window, chewing her lip. What had before been a mild worry was blossoming into something far larger in her mind now. She had helped Luna during the difficult time the princess had been facing on Nightmare Night. She'd spoken to her, played games with her, laughed with her. Nightmare Moon _couldn't_ have returned. Luna didn't resent the ponies of Equestria anymore.

But…

"Maybe…" Twilight said. "Maybe…we should go to Canterlot. Just to see if everything – " She paused, then, as there was a flash in the sky, like distant lightning. Quite suddenly – faster than Twilight had ever seen it move – the moon began to drift across the night sky, as one by one the stars towards the east began to wink out as a glowing light began to edge its way above the horizon.

"Ah _hah!_" The lavender unicorn proclaimed, turning to the cyan pegasus, who had come back down onto the floor as she watched the moon's swift progress across the sky. "See? The moon is setting and the stars are being drawn down. She smiled as she watched the eastern horizon. "_Told_ you everything was fine."

Rainbow Dash couldn't help herself – she breathed out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank _Celestia_," she proclaimed. "And thank Luna, too, I guess. What do you think happened?"

"Maybe Applejack was right and Princess Luna is just out of practice," Twilight ventured. "Or maybe I'm right and she was sick. Or…I don't know." She went back to her bed. "_I'm_ going back to sleep."

Twilight expected to hear her friend take off at that, and from the sounds of things, Rainbow Dash had been about to. However, the flapping of the pegasus' wings continued for a few minutes too long, and Twilight turned to look at her friend, who was staring out the window, jaw hanging slightly.

"What?" She asked.

"…I think you should see this," Rainbow Dash responded.

Grumbling slightly, Twilight climbed from her bed, trotting over to her window and glancing outside. What could Rainbow Dash be so concerned about –

The sun was black.

Twilight Sparkle stared. She wasn't even sure how what she was seeing was _possible_, but there it was: the sun, rising into the sky, was _black_ at its core, and the light that it shed from its periphery was…pale, almost sickly, and largely lacking in warmth. It seemed to rise into the sky only with great reluctance.

"I _think_ we need to go to Canterlot," Rainbow Dash said after the two stared in utter confusion at this spectacle.

"I think you're right," Twilight Sparkle responded.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_**On the train to Canterlot**_

The train ride to Canterlot had been grim, but they were, thankfully, making excellent speed. They were now just a few minutes from the capital and throne city of Equestria, tucked away into its mountainous home.

Gathering Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack had not taken long, due to Rainbow Dash's speed, but also thanks to the fact that three of the four others were already on their way to the library. Only Fluttershy had needed to be rounded up, huddled as she had been with a number of her animals, trying to convince them that nothing was wrong despite the black sun. Even now, the timid pegasus was pressing herself tightly into the corner of her seat, eyes transfixed on the floor.

"This is just _ghastly_," Rarity quipped as she stared out the window. "Normally I do so adore these trips to Canterlot and the chance to see the scenery on the way. Always such a delight! But with the sun looking like it does…"

"Ah'm just glad train's runnin' like normal to Canterlot," Applejack said. "I reckon things can't be _too_ bad there long as that's the case."

"It's _horrible_," Fluttershy countered, though softly. "None of the animals wanted to come out into the sun. They don't trust it. Animals don't usually like surprises."

"Unless it's a surprise new toy!" Pinkie Pie pointed out. "Gummy loves new toys! Or new food. Or new people. Or new hats, or shoes, or words, or – "

The other five ponies let her continue as they looked to each other. "So ah'm thinkin' that Princess Celestia must be sick," Applejack said. "Didn't know that the princesses _could_ catch a cold."

"I don't think they can," Twilight said. She was standing – she hadn't remained still for long at all during the train ride, instead constantly sitting, then thinking of something and standing, then lying on the floor, only to stand up and pace as much as the small car allowed them, over and over again for the past several hours. "When I was being taught in Canterlot, I got sick plenty of times, but Princess Celestia never seemed to worry about catching anything from me, and I never _saw_ her sick, either. I think that even if she _could_ get sick, she'd just use her magic to cure herself."

"Maybe she's not sick," Fluttershy ventured. "Maybe she's…um…injured."

"Injured?" Rainbow Dash asked, and burst out laughing at that. "What could _injure_ Princess Celestia? Did she fall down the stairs or something?"

" – or new food!" Pinkie Pie finished at last, leaning in to the group. "Hey, were you girls even listening? What are we talking about now?"

"Reasons why the sun's black."

Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her chin as she considered, then started hopping up and down. "Ooh! Ooh! I know! Princess Celestia's been put inside the sun!"

The train car was very quiet at that, except for Pinkie's bouncing, and even that died down after a moment. "Did I guess wrong?" She asked.

Rarity shuffled her hooves in front of her. "Well…" she said. "It…it _is_ more likely than the Princess falling ill," she noted.

"And it would explain the sun…" Fluttershy noted. "Like when Nightmare Moon was trapped in the moon, she was the Mare on the Moon, remember?" She paused, and shivered. "But…only Nightmare Moon or Discord could have done that…"

"Ah think we'd know if'n Discord had managed to escape," Applejack said. "The guy ain't what you'd call subtle."

"Leaving…"

The silence returned to the rail car as it at last came to a stop in Canterlot. The six ponies quickly trotted from the train car and out into Canterlot itself. The streets were bustling, as was usual for the capital city of Equestria, but everypony seemed to be walking with extra speed, and were constantly glancing up at the sun, now hanging directly overhead.

Twilight Sparkle was making a determined effort to not look at it, which was how she saw _her_, getting off of a separate train car, closer to the engine. Blue coat, white mane and tail, clad in a purple-starred cape and purple, pointed wizard's hat – apparently she'd found replacements. The pony didn't make eye contact, but a wave of memory quickly overtook the lavender unicorn.

The cheap magic show, the humiliation of her friends, the ursa minor that _Twilight_ had been forced to deal with, although admittedly wizard-hatted unicorn herself had played only a peripheral role in bringing it to Ponyville…

"Trixie?" Twilight asked. Her friends turned to look.

"No way," Rainbow Dash proclaimed. "Small Equestria, huh?"

"Ugh. What is _she_ doing here?" Rarity demanded.

"Who cares?" Applejack asked. She pointed directly up. "We got things to do that're a _mite_ more important, y'hear?"

"Right," Twilight said, turning back and facing the Royal Castle. "Now to get to the bottom of this." 

* * *

><p>"What do you mean, 'no entry?'" Twilight Sparkle demanded of the day-guard posted outside of the castle gates. The dark-coated, golden-armored stallion, nearly a foot taller than her – and he the shorter of the two posted immediately outside of the gate – met her ire unflinchingly.<p>

"That castle has been sealed, by order of Princess Luna," the guard responded. "Nopony is to go in or out."

"Princess _Luna?_" Applejack asked. "I thought y'all took your orders from Princess Celestia."

"Actually that's a common misconception," The taller, though younger-looking, of the two pegasi said. "We're all the same force, and both princess are our commanders. We just wear different uniforms during the night shift, which is great because – "

At a stern look from the shorter guard, the taller one clamped his mouth shut, though Twilight Sparkle thought she heard him mutter something about how the day-armor chafed his wings something fierce and that the night armor looked cooler. "_In any event,_" the shorter guard said, "No passage, no pony, no exceptions. Those were my orders."

Twilight opened her mouth to shout, but Rarity cut in front of her before she could, batting her eyelashes. "Well," she said. "I don't know if you recognize us – "

"Of course we do!" The taller pegasus exclaimed. "You're the six that restored Princess Luna, and then beat Discord! How could we – "

A second stern look from his companion shut him up again, though not before he muttered something about his opinions on Discord, statues, and the keeping of examples of the latter containing the former in the royal gardens.

"_Anyway_," Rarity said, "You have to admit that we're _very_ close to Princess Celestia, and I daresay Princess Luna as well. So could you maybe do us a _teeny tiny_ favor and pass a message along to the Princess that we'd like to see them?"

"Of course!" The taller pegasus responded, even as the shorter one began saying 'no.' Before he could be stopped, he had taken off, wings taking him to the top of the guard tower where he passed along the message to another guard, before returning to his post. This time, it was the shorter guard muttering under his breath, something about latrine duty for the next month.

After a few minutes of awkward waiting, the unicorn guard at the castle's gate called down to the gate guards to let the six mares pass through the gates. The shorter guard seemed less than pleased, while his taller companion gave a pleasant wave good-bye as they entered, which Pinkie Pie returned with gusto.

The six were lead through the castle's courtyards, and halls. Twilight kept asking the guard questions – what was going on, where was Princess Celestia, why had the palace been ordered sealed – but he did not answer any of them, explaining that he was under orders not to. At length, the six plus their escort reached the antechamber to the castle's throne room. The doors of the throne room were slightly ajar, and inside they could hear voices as the guard instructed them to wait, while he stepped inside to announce their arrival.

"We understand thy concerns," a proud, regal voice, unmistakably that of Princess Luna even without the extraordinarily formal Equestrian that only she used to aide in identification, "but our sister cannot speak with thee, Prince Blueblood."

There was a slight _squeak_ of terror from beside Twilight. The lavender unicorn rolled her eyes at Rarity's reaction to the name.

"He can't be _that_ bad," Applejack insisted.

"_You_ haven't _met_ the lout," the cream-colored unicorn replied.

"But…the _sun_, your majesty," Prince Blueblood's high-and-mighty voice proclaimed. "I'm beginning to – that is, _mine servants_, at mine house, art beginning to grow worried. Thy sister maintained the sun and moon for a thousand years. Surely there is something you – er, ye? – could…?"

From the sound of things, Luna's expression must have darkened considerably. "Thou wouldst presume to entreat us to trespass upon the rightful domain of our sister?"

"Ah…"

"This audience is now over, Prince Blueblood."

There was a moment's sound of hooves on marble, and within moments the stallion – tall and handsome enough, at least on the outside – left the throne room, without even a second glance at the six mares who were waiting to be let in. This was possibly for the best, as Rarity, of all ponies, stuck her tongue out at him as he walked on by.

"Wow!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "I didn't know you had that in you, Rarity!"

"Well, normally I _am_ a bit more ladylike," she admitted, running a hoof across her perfectly-kept mane, "but for _him?_ I'll make an _exception_."

Pinkie Pie giggled at that, as the guard who had escorted them to the throne room stepped back outside and opened the door wide. "The Princess will see you now, m'ladies," he said. The six mares entered the throne room of the Princesses of Equestria moments later.

It was a…jarring experience for Twilight, at the very least. She'd been in the throne room innumerable times – it came with the territory of being Princess Celestia's most faithful student. She knew every tile, every pillar, every window, every step leading up to the throne.

But the mare sitting there…well, she supposed she _knew_ her, too. But for some reason, Princess Luna – with her dark-blue coat and waving mane like a rippling pool of water that caught the stars of the night in reflection – looked out of place in the golden Equestrian throne, even though it was by right hers as well as her sister's, equally and fully. She just wasn't a _part_ of the memories of this place…

Twilight brushed aside the thoughts as she approached the throne, and bowed deeply, the other five ponies – even Pinkie Pie – bowed deeply. "Princess Luna – " Twilight began.

"Twilight Sparkle, what _are_ you doing?" Princess Luna's voice responded as she began trotting down the steps of the throne.

Twilight looked up at her question. "Um…" She asked. "Bowing respectfully?"

Luna stifled a small laugh at that as she joined Twilight on the floor. "Why?"

"Well…you seemed kind of serious with Prince Blueblood…"

"What with the thees and thines and thous and wherefores…" Pinkie began, though a swift – albeit gentle – kick from Rainbow stopped her from going on and on.

Luna _did_ chuckle aloud at that. "Ah, yes." She held one hoof out as though making a royal decree. "_The Royal Canterlot voice with which we once graced our tiny subjects,_" She proclaimed, her voice pitch dropping several octaves and sounding as though many voices were speaking at once, although she thankfully, at least, did not duplicate the Royal Canterlot volume. After speaking, she put her hoof back down. "I don't talk like that anymore, not much, anyway. Nightmare Night taught me to…how was it you phrased it, Applejack?…_loosen up_."

Applejack beamed at that. "Shucks," she said. "Didn't think ah'd leave a lastin' impression."

"You _all_ did," Luna said, bowing her head slightly, then nodding towards the door. "Prince Blueblood began trying to address me in the older form some time ago to earn my favor, around the same time I began to break my own habit. His grammar is _awful_…but, I must admit, amusing. So I put on a show for him."

The mares all laughed a little at Luna's words, Luna joining them – all except Pinkie Pie. When she noticed it, Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth. "Pinkie Pie," she asked. "Are you feeling alright?"

Pinkie Pie jabbed a hoof at Luna. "_You're _faking it," she said with surprising firmness. "I can _always_ tell when someone's faking laughing and _you're_ faking it, Princess."

Luna looked at the accusatory hoof, as though trying to remember the last time someone had pointed at her in that way. After a moment, she sighed, lowering her head. "Yes," she said simply. "I had hoped that seeing you all would lift my spirits, even if only a little…but that is not the case."

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence, before Twilight stepped closer to the Princess. "Luna," she asked, remembering that the alicorn had asked them all – had asked all of Ponyville, in fact – to simply refer to her by name rather than title. "Why did the night last so long? Where's Princess Celestia? And…what's wrong with the sun?"

Luna chewed on her lip, a surprisingly common action for a Princess of Equestria, as she considered. "I will answer those in the reverse of how you asked them," She said, turning around and walking back up to the throne. Apparently, whatever she wanted to say, she wanted that bastion of law and order across Equestria as support. "The sun…there is nothing _truly_ wrong with it. I am simply unskilled at raising it, resulting in its current state…" She grinned slightly, though it was hollow. "You should have seen what the stars and moon looked like during the first few years of my exile. I think my sister managed to make the moon a _square_ at one point…"

"Wait," Rainbow Dash said, taking wing and hovering in place. "_You_ raised the sun? But you just said to Prince high and mighty back there that you would never do that!"

Luna nodded. "I lied to him, Rainbow Dash, as I have lied to most of the ponies who have asked me what is wrong with the sun. I have told them that Celestia is feeling ill, and that the result of that illness was the black sun. But I will not lie to you ponies. I, and my sister, and indeed all of Equestria, owe you too much.

"Where is my sister?" Luna continued, repeating Twilight's second question. She looked up, at the roof of the throne room, though her gaze was slightly unfocused – she looking _through_ the ceiling, perhaps literally with magic, at where the sun currently was in the sky. "She has been sealed in the sun."

"_What?_" The six proclaimed, almost as one.

"How _could_ you?" Rarity demanded.

"She…she didn't turn evil, did she?" Fluttershy asked. "Because that would be…bad."

"Princess Celestia would _never_ turn evil!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash said with absolute certainty, almost simultaneously.

"Besides, what would she even call herself?" Pinkie Pie asked. "_Daymare Sun?_ Just doesn't have the same ring to it. And _Nightmare Sun_ just doesn't make sense! Though it does sound better."

"Luna," Twilight begged, ignoring Pinkie Pie and locking eyes with Luna. "_Please_, whatever's happened, let her out. I'm sure that we can fix it, if – "

Luna held up a hoof, silencing the ponies with her action, though her own eyes remained on Twilight. "Nothing has happened – no, that's not true. Something terrible _has_ happened, but it was not a quarrel between my sister and I. She is as pure of heart today as she has ever been. I did not seal her in the sun in punishment or out of retribution. I put her there because it is the one place, the only place, where I can be absolutely certain she will be safe without my having to stand guard…" her voice caught a moment at that, and she put a hoof to her chest before continuing. "…stand guard over her constantly. I _must_ be free to act during this crisis. I _had_ to put her in the sun. To _protect_ her. I _had_ to."

She didn't sound like she was trying to convince the ponies, as much as herself. There was silence for several moments, before Fluttershy stepped forward. "Um…" she said softly – not that she typically had any other way of speaking, of course. "If…I mean, if it's not too much to ask…and don't think it's because we don't trust you, princess, because we do, but if it's alright with you…"

Luna stood, and nodded, knowing the request Fluttershy was trying to make. "No. I understand," she said, looking up once more to the ceiling, _through_ the ceiling, at the black sun. "Please, ponies, give me a minute."

The ponies waited, as Luna closed her eyes and bowed her head. Her alicorn horn began to glow a deep, midnight blue, and her mane and tail waved in a wind that wasn't there. Rarity and Twilight, both unicorns and therefore both naturally gifted with magical, could _feel_ the raw power of whatever spell Luna was working.

Moments later, there was a bright, painful, hot _flash_ from the floor between the ponies and the steps to Luna and Celestia's shared throne. The ponies all looked away, covering their eyes with their hoofs, and afterwards found their vision still almost whited out. Slowly, however, it began to return…

…and Twilight Sparkle, at least, almost wished it hadn't.

Physically, Princess Celestia seemed fine – almost fine. She lay on her left flank, with wings folded against her body, legs splayed out before her. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically, meaning that she was definitely still alive. But her mane, and her tail…where once the Princess' mane and tail were flowing ribbons of pastel rainbow colors, not truly hair at all but rather potent magic itself…now it was merely pink hair, like any other pony's. Well, perhaps not quite – its shine and glamor were positively divine, and in more ideal circumstances Rarity might have been gushing over it. But it _wasn't right_.

Luna descended from the throne to her sister's side, the other ponies crowding in as well, albeit with trepidation. "I have tried everything to wake her," the Princess of the Moon said as she ran a hand through Celestia's hair, brushing a few stray locks from her face. "Every spell I know. Smelling salts. Splashing her with water. Pinching her. Shouting…_everything_, ponies. But she will not wake, and I do not know how long she will sleep."

Applejack looked up to Luna. "So _that's_ why it took so long for the sun to come up," she reasoned. "Well…shucks, Luna. Ah can understand _that_. If'n ah was in charge of the sun and moon and Apple Bloom or Big Macintosh weren't wakin' up, ah'd probably take at least as long."

"H-how will she eat?" Fluttershy asked. "Will you need s-someone to help? Because I take care of hurt animals all the time, and I know how to – not that Princess Celestia is an animal, but the idea is the same – "

Luna inclined her head to the yellow pegasus. "Though my sister and I do enjoy food and drink, it is a luxury for us, not a necessity. The pure magic of the sun itself can and will sustain her, Fluttershy, as the magic of the moon and stars could and did sustain me during my exile. You need not worry about that…but I am truly grateful for the offer."

"How'd this even happen?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Let me guess: some kind of magic?"

"_Powerful_ magic," Twilight Sparkle breathed, getting down onto her knees before her teacher, her horn glowing slightly. "A sleeping spell…but something about it _feels_ familiar…"

Luna waited patiently for Twilight to reach her conclusions. After a few moments, the lavender unicorn looked up. "It's alicorn magic that put her to sleep," she said. "But…not yours. And not Nightmare Moon's. And not her own, but that's obvious, I guess…"

Luna nodded. "You are correct, Twilight Sparkle. And now I will answer your first question: why the night lasted so long." She nodded towards Applejack. "You are partially correct, that it was out of worry for my sister. But it was also because, during the night, as I began to draw down the stars and lower the moon, the castle – _my sister_ – was attacked by a foe we thought long defeated. An alicorn named Blackguard. Once I realized what was happening, I strung the stars and hung the moon once more, as quickly as I could – the alternative was letting them fall to Equestria, and that would have been _beyond_ catastrophic. But…" her voice again hitched. "But I wasn't _fast_ enough. By the time I had returned to Canterlot, my sister had already been placed in slumber."

"But then you kicked Blackguard's flank, right?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I mean…Princess Celestia must have been attacked by surprise. But you _knew_ she was at Canterlot. So…"

Luna looked away at that, eyes closed. A stream of shimmering wetness began to form at the edges of her eyes. "N-no," she stuttered. "When I arrived…by the time I had…Blackguard lingered _just long enough_ to laugh at me. To laugh at my impotence…a-as my sister…"

The Princess felt a hoof at her shoulder. Opening an eye, she sat that Fluttershy had used her wings to float up to her. She had a gentle smile on her face, despite the fact that ever since Luna had told them she had sealed Celestia in the sun, she had been fighting back tears of her own. After a moment, Luna reached out, pulling Fluttershy into her forelegs and ceasing to fight her tears, instead crying silently into Fluttershy's mane. A moment later, the other five ponies were there, embracing Luna as well.

The alicorn needed the group-hug, _badly_. It was several minutes before the princess was able to compose herself, gently pushing the little ponies away from her. "Thank-you," she said as she ran a hoof across her eyes, clearing them of tears.

"No problem!" Pinkie Pie declared. "I _hate_ seeing ponies in tears, but sometimes you just _need_ to cry, right? Just cry and cry and cry and cry and cry until you run out of tears. Then you can laugh again!"

"Speaking of laughter," Rainbow Dash said, still in the air, "where are the Elements of Harmony? I think it's time we found Blackguard and taught her a lesson!"

"But wait," Twilight said. "_Why_ did Blackguard do this? You said she was an alicorn! I thought alicorns were…well, _good!_ All the most ancient Equestrian legends…"

Luna offered a sad smile at that. She closed her eyes, her horn glowing with magic, and a few moments later Princess Celestia's sleeping form disappeared in a _flash_, presumably placed back into the sun. "I wish that were true," she said. "But as my own…actions…should prove, that is not always the case. Blackguard's reasoning is…complicated."

"Complicated?" A new voice asked. "I don't think so…no."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The six ponies and the Princess turned at the sound of the voice, looking down the length of the throne room towards its doors as they suddenly slammed shut and flashed a moment with ebon-hued magic, sealing them in and keeping the guards out.

Standing in front of the door was a pony, about as tall as Princess Luna, but considerably thinner, almost emaciated in appearance, and she kept her neck extended out and bowed low, making her appear shorter than she was. Her coat, mane, and tail were all matte-black, while her eyes were red and slit like that of a dragon. Wrought iron manacles were bound to her fetlocks, though without chains to connect them, while her wings were clasped in tight, binding irons of their own. Atop the pony's head, clearly visible thanks to her mane having been brushed to cover the right side of her face, was a shattered unicorn's horn.

Her cutie mark was unlike any the ponies had ever seen – a trio of dark gray crescents, almost like crescent moons, each with their horns pointing downwards and with gray circles between the horns

"Blackguard," Luna breathed in disbelief.

The black alicorn smirked, as she began walking forward, neck still lowered. She moved like a predator, not a pony, her steps long and determined. "I came to see how you were doing, Luna," she said. Surprisingly, despite her appearance and her actions, Blackguard's voice carried little malice or evil in it. It was soft, but utterly confident. "You seemed so distraught last night – "

There was _movement_ from beside the six ponies, and suddenly Luna was in front of them, galloping down the length of the throne room towards the black alicorn. Blackguard herself smirked, spreading her wings wide and leaping into the air at Luna's charge, narrowly avoiding the princess's horn. She didn't stay in the air, instead coming down on her hooves, manacles rattling and with her back to the six ponies.

"Have I done something to upset you?" Blackguard asked, wings still spread wide.

Luna turned, and there was a _shimmer_ in the air beside her as her mane and horn flared with magic for a moment. A second later, a pair of midnight-blue, wickedly sharp blades were floating in the air on either side of her as she charged again, blades swinging. Blackguard ducked and avoided each swipe with little apparent effort.

"Oh Luna," Blackguard chided as she flapped her wings, taking to the air this time and staying there. Luna joined her in moments "Always so delicate and easy to offend."

"You take that back!" A call came from behind Blackguard. The alicorn turned, but too slowly to avoid a cyan-hued, rainbow-trailing blur that came at her – and proceeded to pass harmlessly through her form.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash managed, just before crashing into the solid marble wall of the throne room. She picked herself up moments later, unharmed, but unbalanced from the impact.

"What trickery is this?" Luna demanded, throwing one of her magical blades in frustration. It, too, passed harmlessly through Blackguard's form.

Blackguard smirked again, letting herself drift to the floor, where Luna joined her. The black alicorn actually lay down, resting her head on her hooves and watching Luna intently. "Boo," she objected. "I was hoping I could keep that going for a few minutes, at least."

Luna's conjured blades disappeared, as Twilight Sparkle worked up the courage to trot around to look her teacher's attacker in the eye. Blackguard watched, grin never leaving her face. The other ponies joined her after a moment. Luna's and Twilight's horns both began glowing almost as one, as each extended their magical senses to inspect Blackguard. The ebon-hued alicorn offered no resistance as violet and midnight blue auras took shape around her body.

"She's…not real," Twilight said after a moment.

"An illusion," Luna confirmed, stepping forward. "Tell me what you've done to my sister, Blackguard."

"Put her to sleep," The black alicorn said, rolling her eyes. "I thought that was obvious." She looked at the six ponies around Luna. "Who are they?"

"_Wake_ her _up_," Luna demanded, stamping a hoof on the floor and ignoring the black alicorn's question.

Blackguard stood, stretching despite apparently being nothing more than an illusion. "You know what?" She asked. "I _will_."

The shepherd of the moon seemed taken aback at that. "You will?" Luna asked incredulously.

"Of course. I propose a trade," Blackguard said, as she began to pace back and forth in long, slow steps. "Your sister's well-being…for the return of _my kingdom_."

"This ain't _your_ kingdom," Applejack objected.

Blackguard spared only a glance at the orange pony, before looking back to Luna. "I see," she said gravely, her smirk dropping for the first time since her arrival, her face instead taking on a look of mock concern. "They don't know…"

Luna took another step towards Blackguard. "Equestria is not mine to give away."

"Mmn, you're right about _that_…" The black alicorn's grin returned as she continued pacing. "Of course, it wasn't yours to _take_, either…"

"Princess Luna?" Fluttershy asked cautiously. "What is she talking about…?"

The dark blue alicorn bowed her head. "It is…complicated."

"No, it's _simple_," Blackguard said, continuing to pace back and forth. Her smirk dropped again, but this time she seemed to become genuinely angry. "Equestria is _mine_. Mine by inheritance. Mine by appointment. Mine by _right_. And _you_, Luna, and your sister _stole it from me!_"

At the last, she stopped pacing in order to stamp her hoof on the ground. The ponies all turned to look at Luna, who wouldn't take her eyes off of Blackguard, nor did she explain the black alicorn's words. Blackguard looked between the ponies again. "Who _are _you all, anyway?" She asked, flapping her wings in annoyance. "Court jesters?"

Rainbow Dash flew forward at that, jabbing a hoof at Blackguard. "_We're_ the holders of the Elements of Harmony!" She proclaimed.

Blackguard sat back on her haunches at that, head tilting to one side. "Indeed?" she asked.

"That's right," Rarity said, stepping forward as well. "We earned them when we defeated Nightmare Moon. And we used them again against Discord!"

Blackguard put a hoof to her mouth in horror. "Oh…oh no," she said. "I…I may have made a grave miscalculation."

"Darn right you did," Applejack said. "Now how's about undoin' whatever it is you did to the Princess?"

"Of course!" Blackguard exclaimed, standing up straight and pacing back and forth in worry. "The Elements of Harmony…oh _dear_ oh _dear_ oh _dear_. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Something about taking over Equestria," Pinkie Pie supplied helpfully. The other five ponies shot her a glare, in response to which the pink pony leapt forward. "But that's not going to happen now!"

"Certainly not – " Blackguard began, before stopping her pacing and putting a hoof to her mouth, breath hitching slightly. "I…can't possibly…stand up to – oh, I can't _do this!_" She took her hoof from her mouth and began laughing.

Pinkie laughed as well. "Yeah, it _is_ pretty funny that you thought you'd win," she said.

"I…don't think that's what she's laughing at," Twilight Sparkle said.

Blackguard tried to answer, but her laughter was too hard, so she simply pointed at Twilight with one hoof and nodded as she sat back down.

"_Enough!_" Luna shouted, galloping right up to Blackguard's face and staring down at the sitting alicorn, who stopped laughing and actually shied away slightly at Luna's sudden movement, despite being only an illusion. "Blackguard, my sister and I stole _nothing_ from you but your freedom, and _that_ only when you attacked Canterlot. Now free Celestia."

"Or you'll…what?" Blackguard asked. She smirked again, her face drawing close to Luna's own, to the point that their noses were almost touching. "I've already demonstrated I can come and go as I please – "

"Wrong," Luna responded, horn glowing. The illusion of Blackguard was wrapped in midnight blue energy, and thrown across the throne room, towards the door, where it landed in a heap and was held in place by streams of magic. Real fright appeared in the black alicorn's eyes at the action as Luna began moving towards her, slowly. "For this conversation to take place, you must have a magical link between yourself and this illusion. Which means that if I _find_ that link and start _twisting_…"

The illusion of Blackguard again went flying, this time against one of the marble pillars before being held in place. Blackguard glared at the princess. "This is a very impressive display – for _them_," the black alicorn said, nodding towards the ponies. "But the worst it's going to give _me_ is a mild headache."

"But what if I start following that link back to the source?" Luna asked, leaning forward as her eyes began to glow white, irises and pupils disappearing in the glare. "Find out where you're casting these spells from…"

The black alicorn sneered as ebon magic rose from the illusion, fighting back against Luna's hold. "My shattered horn being found," she hissed. "The white sun falling into slumber…and the black sun rising in the sky. Three signs of my return have occurred, Luna! Only two more now."

With a grunt, Blackguard's magic threw off Luna's own, and she fell to the throne room's floor, landing on her hooves with wings spread wide and head ducked down. Luna's magic reached out towards Blackguard again, but there was another surge of black magic, and suddenly, between Luna and Blackguard appeared a large, white, sleeping form.

Luna's eyes widened as her magic wrapped around the slumbering alicorn, confirming that this was real and not an illusion. "Celestia!" She cried. "How…?"

"_Equestria is _mine,_ Luna!_" Blackguard shouted. "You and your sister are nothing more than _thieves, _and you _cannot _shield yourself from my wrath." Her grin returned as her gaze fell upon Celestia. "Nor your sister."

With that, the illusion's body seemed to explode into a cloud of black dust, swirling around itself and being sucked into a point in the air. After a moment, it was gone.

* * *

><p>Luna galloped up to Celestia, nuzzling her sister as though it might wake her, but the white alicorn remained in her magical sleep. The six ponies came up to Luna quickly, and saw a look of confusion and terror on her face.<p>

"She was supposed to be _safe_," the alicorn said, falling to her knees. "Blackguard should _not_ have been able to…"

"Princess," Rarity asked after a few moments. "What was Blackguard _talking _about? What does she mean that you and Princess Celestia are thieves? And how do you even _know_ such a dreadful pony?"

Luna grimaced, looking at the six ponies. At length, she began to speak.

"Once," she began, "there were many more alicorns. After my kind defeated Discord, we divided all of creation up amongst ourselves, in order to bring harmony to everything. At the time, I was given stewardship over moonlight and starlight, and my sister over sunlight. By the time it was Blackguard's turn to be assigned a charge, however, there was nothing left in creation to guard over. She was…distraught at this. But then Celestia and I suggested that she could become the alicorn of _nothingness_, of absence…of darkness. And so she did, taking to her new appointment eagerly, and for a time everything was good.

"As the ages passed, as many alicorns began passing on and leaving creation, their tasks were spread out amongst those alicorns who remained behind. That is how I came to rule the whole of the night sky, and Celestia the whole of the day…while Blackguard had managed to inherit control of the whole of the surface of the world. Blackguard guarded her charge…jealously. I think that she never forgot that she had been left out of the initial delegations, and so anything she had, she was terrified of giving up."

"Oh…" Applejack said. "So _that's_ what she was talkin' about when she said that Equestria was hers, then," at a nod from Luna, Applejack pressed on. "But then what does she mean that you and Princess Celestia are thieves? You didn't just up and take it from her…?"

"No, nothing so overt," Luna said, looking back to Celestia and again nuzzling her neck. "While Blackguard was ruler of the surface world, each of the three pony tribes were seen as _all_ of our charges. But Blackguard never revealed herself to your kind. While Luna and I believed that you had a special place in the world, Blackguard insisted that you were just one more creature on her earth, no more or less worthy of attention than any other.

"You know the tales of Hearth's Warming Eve, of course," Luna continued. "After that, when the ponies founded Equestria…Blackguard grew angry. She had set aside a specific portion of her earth for earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, but now each of your tribes were converging into Equestria, forcing her to relocate and re-organize the earth. When the pony tribes built Canterlot, she became even angrier…and when they asked Celestia and myself to rule over them, angrier still."

"That don't seem much like thievin', though," Applejack commented.

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "We asked nicely and you came down from the sun and moon and did! Where's the thieving-thieviness?"

"Because," Luna explained, "when we accepted, Blackguard saw it as a sort of invasion. An attempt on our part to seize the earth from her. It wasn't, in her view, your kind's _right_ to make that request, and we should have never accepted."

"Oh," Twilight said. "_Ohhh…_now I get it." She paused, and scuffed her hoof on the floor of the throne room. "And…I guess it makes sense…"

"Twilight!" Rarity snapped.

"It _does_," Luna said. "But my sister and I never intended to take control of the earth from Blackguard, and we tried to tell her, but she wouldn't listen. She attacked Canterlot, trying to destroy it, scatter the pony tribes, and force Celestia and I back into the sky. This would have been…" She thought. "Three, maybe four thousand years ago now."

Applejack whistled slightly at Luna's casual mention of her immortality, but the moon princess didn't notice. "The battle was long – many days long – and it raged across Equestria," Luna said. "Eventually, I was able to shatter Blackguard's horn, weakening her severely. Using it, my sister and I worked a spell that banished her to deep within the earth. Unfortunately, as a last act against us, Blackguard managed to throw and hide her horn, somewhere in Equestria. My sister and I searched for it for centuries, but were never able to find it."

"What was the spell?" Twilight asked. "Did it have words?"

Luna nodded. "_From whence you came you shall remain until you are complete again_," she recited.

Twilight's eyes widened a little. "That's…that's _easy_ to break!" She exclaimed without thinking.

"Twilight!" Rarity snapped again. "Please! I know that your special talent is magic, but I'm _certain_ the princesses – "

"No, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle is right," Luna said. She shook her head. "But those were the words that came."

At a confused look from the other ponies, Twilight began explaining. "Spells cast with magic words are more powerful and longer-lasting," she said. "But they can have loopholes or oversights. And you can't just prepare the words beforehand to try and close any loopholes – you just start saying them as the spell is cast, almost without thinking."

Luna nodded again, as she stood. "Blackguard said that somepony has found her horn," she remembered. "Which means that somepony will try and _return_ her horn to her, where she is imprisoned deep beneath Equestria. I must go and – "

She had begun to walk, when her steps faltered slightly as she remembered Celestia, and turned around, looking at her sleeping sister. "…I…I can't go…" she breathed.

The ponies looked from Luna to Celestia. "Oh…oh my," Fluttershy realized. "You said that Celestia would be absolutely safe in the sun…but if Blackguard could …"

"I can't go," Luna repeated. "I can't leave Celestia alone…or else Blackguard might…but if I _don't_ go…"

"We'll go," Rainbow Dash said, landing in front of Luna and winking. "We beat Discord. We can find and beat Blackguard!"

Luna regarded the cyan pegasus. "I can't ask you to fight an alicorn," she said. "Not even one with her horn shattered."

"We, um…" Fluttershy commented, looking away. "We fought _you_…when you were Nightmare Moon…"

Luna shook her mane in agitation. "Think about that encounter," she said. "I caused a landslide? You and Rainbow Dash are pegasi, easily capable of saving yourselves and the others. The serpent? He wished you no ill. The manticore? Removing a thorn in his paw was all it took to calm him." She chuckled slightly in memory. "_Scary trees? Shadowbolts?_"

Pinkie Pie giggled slightly as well at the memory of Nightmare Moon's return and her attempt to frighten them off from reaching the abandoned, ruined palace in the Everfree Forest. Luna walked back up to her sister, settling down next to her. "I only wanted the night to last forever. I didn't want to _hurt_ anypony, not in a lasting sense."

"But there's still Discord," Twilight said, shivering slightly at the memory of fighting the very incarnation of chaos and disharmony.

Luna shook her mane again. "Discord was a horrible, evil spirit, but I do not believe he would have ever tried to cause you serious harm, either. You were too much _fun_ for him." She looked at the ponies, and in a low, utterly serious voice, said "Blackguard has absolutely no reason not to kill you at every opportunity."

Fluttershy _eeped_ at that, while Applejack only stepped forward. "We ain't afraid of that!" She stated, before sparing a glance at Fluttershy. "_Mostly_ not afraid."

"And it's not like we have a _choice_," Rainbow Dash said. "What else could we do? Just sit back and wait for her to come to us?"

"She might still be capable of using magic," Twilight continued, "but she'll be so much worse if she gets her horn back."

"And we have the elements!" Pinkie Pie reminded Luna. "We'll just be all _friendship is magic, you greedy mare!_ And then _zoom! _Rainbow _boom!_"

Luna grimaced, before nodding. "Alright," she said softly. "I will retrieve the Elements for you six…but my attempt to find where Blackguard was hiding was unsuccessful. I do not know where you could start."

"Oh, that's easy," Twilight said with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Alright, I've narrowed it down," Twilight said proudly three days later, beaming.

"You're definition of narrow is…um…" Fluttershy said, as she regarded the table. "Large."

Twilight let out a groan as she went back to the table in Canterlot's blue-tinged Royal Library, which overlooked both the courtyard and the city's center. Piled up on top of it were dozens of books and scrolls, all of them incredibly old, and some of _them _simply copies of even earlier works. It was a 'narrowed down' pile in that at least they no longer had the entire library to go through, as they had before.

"I don't believe this…" The lavender unicorn complained as she slumped down in front of the table, nudging one of the books with a hoof. "Blackguard attacked Canterlot! How come there's barely any information on her?"

"Wait, I got something!" A voice said from the other side of the table. Twilight let out a gasp of surprise and joy as she galloped around to the other side, to a purple-and-green baby dragon who was sitting on the floor, book open. "Blackguard. Scoundrel, rogue, rascal, villain, wretch, cad…"

"Spike, what book is that?" Twilight asked, leaning in to read the page herself.

"A thesaurus," the baby dragon admitted sheepishly.

Twilight let out another groan, planting her face firmly on the table. There were black bags under her eyes from having not slept much over the past few days, when she slept at all. Fluttershy sat down and tapped her two front hooves together in concern. "It's okay, Twilight," she comforted. "Maybe we just need to go to another library…"

"This is the largest library in the world!" Twilight exclaimed. "If we can't find anything about Blackguard here, we can't find it anywhere! We've already wasted three days…"

"Hey, it wasn't a waste," Spike said. "Thirty or forty books to try and figure out is a lot better than a whole library." After their audience with Princess Luna, Twilight had immediately sought out the baby dragon, who had been in Canterlot for the past week on royal business. Their seeing each other again was met with little celebration, however, as Twilight had immediately dragged him, and the other five ponies, to the royal Canterlot library, intent on finding anything and everything related to Blackguard. By the end of that first day, however, she'd quickly exiled Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, the four not being much help at all in proper research. Truth be told, neither was Fluttershy, but she, at least, was quiet.

"So what's in these?" Fluttershy asked as she used her nose to open the most prominently-placed book on the table. "A…foal's book?" She asked, and double-checked the cover, which was worn and cracked all over. "A really, really old foal's book…"

"Fifteen hundred years…" Twilight admitted. At Fluttershy suddenly treating it like it was made of powder, she waved a hoof. "All the books in the library are magically fortified."

The yellow pegasus nodded, leaning in and reading the page that had been bookmarked.

_Black horn, lost horn, found where it lies  
><em>_White sun sleeping, black sun rise  
><em>_Gray horn, gray wings, two red eyes  
><em>_Down, down, down we go – big surprise!_

The rhyme came with a drawing of a number of fillies and colts dancing around a black horn, though the horn that had been drawn looked like it belonged to a deer. Fluttershy read the rhyme again. "Black horn…" she intoned. "White sun sleeping…so that's Princess Celestia. And black sun, that's obvious…" She smiled. "So now all we need to do is find a pony with a gray horn and gray wings, and red eyes!"

Twilight stared at Fluttershy, waiting for the yellow pegasus to figure out the problem for herself. "Oh, right…" she said after a moment. "That would be an alicorn…and I don't know any alicorns besides the princesses."

"I _think _the rhyme's actually talking about three ponies," Twilight said. "A unicorn with a gray horn, a pegasus with gray wings, and then a pony with red eyes. And _that_ helps _so_ much, since gray coats and red eyes are _so _uncommon…"

"What's the big surprise?" Fluttershy asked. She paused. "And how did little colts and fillies know a nursery rhyme about Blackguard…?"

"I don't know!" Twilight exclaimed. "And there's nothing really about signs of Blackguard returning…or what she'll be doing! But so far it's the closest thing I've found to a hint!" She nudged the book pile with one hoof. "Everything else is just really, really old history books that sort of mention that at one point Canterlot was attacked by a big, black alicorn. But they don't mention anything about signs of Blackguard returning!" She buried her face in her hooves. "We've already wasted three days. By now whoever it is that found Blackguard's horn is probably hundreds of – "

There was a slight _eep_ from the door to the library. Twilight turned with bleary eyes to the door…and those eyes almost instantly narrowed in annoyance.

The unicorn standing in the doorway, with a blue coat and white mane, narrowed her own eyes as well at the sight of Twilight. Atop her head was a purple, star-swirled wizard's hat, while wrapped around neck was a matching cape with a folded-down collar. Beneath the cape were a pair of saddlebags.

"Sparkle," she said simply.

"Trixie." Twilight returned. Again, memories of the blue unicorn's boasting playing a part in Ponyville nearly being destroyed danced around in Twilight's head. She was in _no_ mood for Trixie right now.

Fluttershy tapped her hooves together in concern. "Oh, um…" She said, glancing between Twilight and Trixie nervously. In a tiny voice, she whispered "hello…"

The awkward moment continued to stretch, before Trixie let out a slight _humph_ sound, turning up her nose and began trotting into the library. Twilight watched closely as the blue unicorn began climbing up a ramp that lead to the library's second story

"What are _you_ doing here?" Spike finally asked, breaking the protracted silence. "This isn't a public library. You need _permission_."

Trixie looked over her shoulder, smirking. "I _have_ permission," she said, grinning slightly as she stopped walking. "In fact, the G – that is, _I_ have a perpetual, _personal_ invitation from Princess Celestia herself."

"…what." Twilight demanded in a monotone voice, standing and beginning to walk to Trixie, head bowed low as she did, moving like a predator stalking prey.

Trixie wasn't intimidated. Beneath her hat, her horn glowed blue-white, and from within one saddlebag a long piece of parchment was drawn out, which she held up to Twilight's face for the lavender unicorn to read. The parchment looked several years old, but Trixie had clearly been doing her best to keep it in good condition.

"_In recognition for the excellent charity show put on for the young colts and fillies of Canterlot this past Hearth's Warming Eve,_" Twilight read aloud, her eyes growing large in disbelief, "_I, Princess Celestia, do hereby extend a perpetual invitation to the talented performers to visit the outer areas of the royal palace, including the royal gardens, the royal library, and the royal museum._"

Twilight stared, looking back to the smug look on Trixie's face. "…it's not a _personal_ invitation," she objected after a moment. In response, Trixie turned the note around, and Twilight read again. "_P.S. – Trixie, you are a very talented magician, especially at your age!_"

"Wait, wait, wait," Spike said, coming up and joining Twilight, pointing at Trixie. "_You_ put on a charity show? The Great and Powerful Trixie?"

The blue unicorn _huffed_ as she withdrew the invitation, sliding it back into her saddlebags. "Sh - _I_ was _part_ of one, yes, along with other reasonably talented performers."

Twilight ignored the fact that Trixie seemed to be fighting the urge to talk in the third person. "When was _this?_" She demanded.

Trixie _huffed_ again. "I don't see any reason to explain my past to _you_, Twilight Sparkle," the unicorn said as she turned around deliberately and began walking again, towards the fables section. Her head lowered somewhat as her voice took on a spiteful tone even as she levitated books from her saddlebags and began sliding them back into their proper place. "Suffice to say that not _all_ of us can be so lucky as to be hoof-chosen by an immortal alicorn. _Some_ of us had to _work_, had to put _effort_ into getting where we were…"

"Right, _work_," Twilight said, rolling her eyes. "Like when you _vanquished_ the _ursa major_…"

Trixie spun at that, pointing at Twilight with one of the books she had angrily. "All I wanted was to bring a little magic into people's lives!" She cried. "Wake them up from their miserable little existences! Yes, I may have started to self-insert myself a little, but all I wanted was to put on a good show, and – and _you're not even paying attention to me!_" Trixie objected when she saw that Twilight's eyes were locked firmly on the book's cover, and more importantly, its title.

_Time of the Black Sun_.

"…why do you have this book?" Twilight asked after a moment.

Trixie paused, looking at the cover, before letting out a sigh of annoyance. "I'm a _performer. _I _perform_. Which means I read a lot of fables looking for inspiration, especially since making up my own…ended poorly." Undoubtedly, Trixie was referring to her visit to Ponyville. She glanced out the window. Despite three days of practice, Luna had yet to be able to make the sun appear normal in the sky. "Though I admit I may have had some other things on my mind when I found it."

Twilight grasped it with her magic, and Trixie, surprisingly, let her own magical grip on the book slip. "It's not very good," the blue alicorn continued. "I was hoping for something I could use to put on a show to cheer up all the scared little colts and fillies…" At a glance from Spike, Trixie rolled her eyes. "And, yes, get my hooves on gold bits from their parents. A mare has to make a living."

Twilight was ignoring the blue unicorn, instead paging through the book, eyes growing wider. "This is what we've needed!" Twilight exclaimed, turning around and galloping down to Fluttershy, holding the book wide open. "Look!"

The yellow pegasus had been keeping herself out of the confrontation between Trixie and Twilight. She took the offered book in her hooves and started reading.

_Black horn, lost horn, found where it lies  
><em>_Ebon Queen with crimson eyes  
><em>_Beneath the earth she starts to rise  
><em>_Sovereign of Shadow seeks her prize_

_White sun, warm sun, burning bright  
><em>_Ebon Queen comes in the night  
><em>_Casts her spell on evil's blight  
><em>_White sun falls without a fight  
><em>_  
>Black sun, dark sun, high up there<br>__Ebon Queen moves without a care  
><em>_Moon Queen's fears now laid bare  
><em>_All hope rests on white sun's heir  
><em>_  
>Gray horns, gray wings, faithful spies<br>__Ebon Queen's servants in disguise  
><em>_Find her prison and find her prize  
><em>_And clear the way for her to rise  
><em>_  
>Forest, woodland, ever free<br>__Ebon Queen's servants come to thee  
><em>_Prison known and now the key  
><em>_Black horn, found horn, set her free._

"Oh my," Fluttershy breathed. "But – but this doesn't sound at all like a nursery rhyme!" In a smaller voice, "it's too scary…"

Twilight ran a horn across the book's cover. "This book is more than two thousand years old," she said, using magic to determine its age. "The rhyme probably got shorter and shorter as people began to forget about Blackguard, and eventually became a nursery rhyme." She turned the book back to herself, flipping through the pages. "It's a…it looks like a mix between a grimoire, and a journal, and a book of stories, all about Blackguard. Whoever wrote it looks like they were worried that Blackguard might return soon…but after he or she passed on and the centuries kept going on, I guess they just started looking like stories."

"So what do we do?" Spike asked.

"We find the others," Twilight said with a grin, "and then show Princess Luna. Come on!"

Above, from the second floor, Trixie stuck her head over a railing. "Wait!" She called, as the pegasus, unicorn, and baby dragon ran from the library. "Where are you going with that? Are you gonna return it? _It better not be late!_"

The ponies and dragon either didn't hear her or didn't care. Trixie sat back on her haunches, waiting for them to go, before a smile began to take shape on her lips.

"And _that_," she said softly, "is how it is done."

Blackguard appeared just behind her as the door to the library shut, though Trixie didn't turn to acknowledge her. The illusory alicorn leaned in close to Trixie. "Well done," she congratulated, "my most faithful student."

* * *

><p><em>Five months ago, Trixie had stumbled across the alicorn's shattered horn – or, more correctly, stumbled <em>over_ it as she tried to cross a river during a storm, the bridge for which had been knocked over. She hadn't wanted to, but ever since the destruction of her wagon it was not like she had any other reasonable place for shelter than hoping she made it to the next town over before it grew too dark to see._

_Something _else_ Twilight probably wasn't used to. Trixie was more than capable of 'roughing it' if the need arose._

_The horn had intrigued her at first, though she didn't fully know why at the time, she simply had felt that she _had_ to remove it from where it lay in the riverbed. Once she'd reached the opposite shore and taken something resembling shelter under a tree, removing her cape and hat, she'd gotten her first good look at it – and had almost thrown it right back into the river in fright when she'd realized what it was, or at least what she'd thought it was – a _unicorn's horn_, no different than finding the skull or leg bone of a pony._

"_That horn belongs to me," a soft, confident voice had said, the suddenness of it the only thing preventing her from hurling the horn away in horror. "Please don't throw it away."_

_Trixie had turned to see the source of the voice, who had stepped around from the other side of the tree. Black coat, black wings, red eyes slit like a dragon – and a shattered horn atop her head._

"_Who are you?" Trixie had asked._

"_Oh…" the alicorn had sighed, looking down and scuffing the wet grass with one hoof. "I have had so many names and titles…but you'd be surprised, O Great and Powerful Trixie, how little they mean when you've acquired essentially all of them. _You_ may call me Blackguard."_

_Trixie had looked to the horn, held aloft by her magic, and then to the shattered stump on the black alicorn's head. "Oh…" Trixie had said, a dark feeling gripping her heart as she regarded the alicorn's frightening visage and the horn. "Oh…um…h-here you go," she'd offered, holding forth the horn._

_Blackguard had reached out for it with a hoof, but the extended appendage had passed right through the horn. She waved her leg through it a few more times for effect. "Can't," she'd said simply._

_That had done nothing to alleviate Trixie's fear. "A-are you a g-ghost…?" She'd dared to ask, taking a few steps back from the alicorn._

"_No. I am asleep." Blackguard had actually bowed slightly, spreading her wings wide as she did. "What you see is nothing more than a dream, an illusion, a projection that I have sent to you for finding my horn."_

"_And…and what do you want to do?"_

"_To thank you, Trixie. Four thousand years it's been sitting in that riverbed, waiting for somepony to find it. I had put a magical perception filter on it to hide it from…certain ponies…but I suspect I may have overdone it. Still, better late than never, and better you than those certain ponies."_

_Trixie had regained a little bit of confidence at that. "Well. The Great and Powerful Trixie accepts your – " she had paused when realization struck her, and that small iota of confidence had disappeared utterly. "I – I never told you my name. How did you…?"_

"_Mmn, I read your mind. I've been reading it this whole time, in fact. My, but you _are_ a troubled one, Trixie. So much talent. So much _potential_. Wasting away thanks to hubris, bad fortune, other pony's interference…and missed opportunities."_

_Blackguard had stepped forward then, head turning to the side slightly as she approached – and it was possibly a trick of the storm, but the blue unicorn could have sworn that the world grew darker as she did. Trixie had begun backing away, dropping the alicorn's horn as she did. In so doing, she'd backed out into the rain. She didn't consciously think of the fact that Blackguard, apparently, was only an illusion. The alicorn could read minds. Who knew what other horrible things she was still capable of?_

"_Now trot away, my little pony," Blackguard had said as she sat down under the shelter of the tree, the darkness folding back into her. Trixie's hat and cape had levitated up, and the alicorn magically wrapped the latter back around her shoulders and set the sopping wet former down on Trixie's head. "Your part in this story is over. Soon, a pony will come whom I can use to wake myself up fully."_

_Trixie stared. "O..okay…" She'd said meekly, walking carefully around the tree's radius and heading towards the road. After a moment, however, she'd stopped and looked back at Blackguard, who was staring down at her horn. A thought occurred to Trixie – she didn't know from where. Perhaps she was so far passed terror at the alicorn that insane suggestions seemed reasonable._

"_What if I'm that pony?" Trixie had asked._

"_No," Blackguard responded without pause, glancing at Trixie. "That would be absurd. Your entire life has been about missing opportunities. You're unlucky. You're a magnet for trouble – and you are proud. Far too proud. You are the _last_ kind of pony I need."_

_Trixie had grown angry at that. "I'm not unlucky."_

"_Oh? Where is your wagon? Crushed beneath the paw of an ursa minor."_

"_But I _had_ it. I _had_ what I wanted, _everything _I wanted. How many ponies can claim that? How could a pony who's had that, even if they've lost it, ever call herself unlucky?"_

_Blackguard had turned to fully regard her. "How many ponies can claim to have encountered an ursa minor? The last thing I need, Trixie, is a pony who will get herself killed."_

"I_ didn't bring the ursa minor to Ponyville!"_

"_And you didn't vanquish it, either," Blackguard had said, shaking her head. "Such a wasted opportunity. A chance for real fame, squandered."_

_Trixie stared at that, backing up a step. "I…" She'd tried. "I…I could have!"_

"_Oh?"_

"_It was late. I was tired, caught by surprise. If I'd had time to prepare, or more warning, or – "_

"_You would have failed."_

"_No!" Trixie had said, stomping her hoof. "I could have beaten it. My special talent is magic. Magic! I could have done _everything_ that Twilight Sparkle did! I didn't know how – but I've been learning!"_

"_I seriously – _seriously – _doubt that."_

_Something snapped within Trixie. "You…" She'd exclaimed, stomping forward, under the tree's relative shelter and shoving her face mere inches from the alicorn's own. "You doubt the Great and Powerful Trixie?"_

_Blackguard stared for a moment. "So...so…_so_ much hubris…" She'd said, a sad smile on her face as she shook her mane_

_Trixie had taken a step back, but only to get room as she'd stood up on her hind legs, horn glowing as all she'd seen was red. "It's not pride…" she'd countered, before pointing her horn and forelegs straight up into the sky and throwing her magical power and anger at Blackguard's words into the clouds, "if the Great and Powerful Trixie can prove it!"_

_Trixie had felt the magic leave her body – more than she'd ever released at once before. It was blinding, painful – and at the same time, an immense release, relief from a pressure she'd never known was there until now. She didn't even know what kind of spell she'd intended to cast, only that she _had_, and it had felt _right._ It also, however, made her white out._

_When she'd come to, she was lying on grass on her side, hat and cape removed. Opening her eyes, she saw, above her, a black-feathered wing extended over her fallen form, keeping the rain that made it past the tree's leaves off of her._

"_How…?" She'd managed to ask._

"_A little magic goes a long way," Blackguard had explained. She was sitting on her stomach next to Trixie. "I can't assume a fully physical form yet…but a semi-solid wing for a few minutes, enough to keep out the rain…that I can do."_

_Trixie had been silent for a long while. "I…you're right. I'm nothing. Nothing but a prideful, stupid filly."_

"_Oh?"_

"_What was I even trying to _do?_"_

"_At a guess," Blackguard had said, looking out from under the tree. "Make it stop raining."_

_Trixie didn't even bother to look – her ears told her that she'd failed. If anything, the rain sounded like it was coming down harder. She closed her eyes, fighting back tears. "I should just lie here and die." She'd said._

"_Perhaps. I will not stop you if that's your choice."_

"_You can move your wing if you like. I don't deserve it."_

"_You do not," Blackguard had confirmed, withdrawing her wing. "Before you begin starving yourself to death, however, I have a request."_

"_What?"_

"_Please make it stop raining on this tree alone. It is very conspicuous, and I don't want just anypony to be drawn to it and find my horn."_

_Trixie glanced up at Blackguard at that, then dared a look beyond the relative shelter of the tree. Just beyond it, the rain had stopped falling. Low clouds were still spread across the sky, and it looked like it might start up again at any moment…but, apart from an unusually dark cloud directly over the tree that Blackguard and Trixie sat beneath, the rain had stopped falling._

_Trixie stared in disbelief, before hearing a slight cough from beside her, and saw Blackguard glance upwards in annoyance. The unicorn hoisted herself to her hooves, but only with great effort, and after a moment squeezed her eyes shut and tried to summon magic again – but couldn't. She was _exhausted_ from her display of power. After a few minutes of trying, she fell to the grass again._

"_I…can't. I'm too tired…to exhausted. I'm sorry."_

"_You mean to tell me that you can stop a storm that would give pegasus ponies trouble, but not the small wisp right over our heads?"_

"_No. I can't."_

_Blackguard had been silent for a time, before a wide, surprisingly warm smile had spread on her lips. "And…there goes your pride." She had said, head and eyes turning as though she was watching it leave. "I expect it will return soon. But you _can_ cast it off, and that is more than many ponies can do."_

_Trixie stared in confusion, as Blackguard had leaned in, but not before glancing up casually and causing the cloud above their heads to simply evaporate into nothingness, stopping the rain. "The first thing you must learn to do is guard my horn with your life," she had said. "Nothing in Equestria is more important than that. The second thing you must do is learn that I have a poor tolerance for failure, but an even poorer tolerance for ponies who do not learn from their failures. _Never _make the same mistake twice, or your apprenticeship is over. The third thing you must learn – by the way, Trixie, this means that I accept you as the pony I have been waiting for, so congratulations on that – the third thing you must learn…"_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Despite outward appearances, Trixie didn't actually want much from life. Until just a few months ago, in fact, she had been living the dream, the only dream she'd ever had: to travel from town to town, city to city. Putting on shows, dazzling others with spectacle and flare, performing before crowds of hundreds. Mostly, she was a storyteller. Romances, comedies, tragedies, all helped along by her magic to add to the verisimilitude. Stories of villains and heroes, lovers and infidels, armies of darkness and conspiracies of light. Stories of the great movers and shakers of Equestria's history – of Star Swirl the Bearded, of Nyx, the night guardian, of Firefly the quick, and countless others.

At a certain point, she'd began making…small edits…to those stories. Improving them for drama and effect…and from there, it was only a short step to inserting herself into the stories. Never the big ones – how _ridiculous_ would it have been if she had tried to claim to have been there during the original Hearth's Warming Eve? – but the more obscure, lesser-known stories. As a supporting character at first, as a means of changing the way the story was told and making it more dynamic, but then later as the main character.

That had gone…poorly. She'd let it go to her head. She'd forgotten that it was _Nyx_ who had vanquished the ursa major, it was _Firefly_ who'd helped throw down Tirac, _Star Swirl the Bearded _who had defeated the coven of Discordians who had tried to release their ancient master from his statue prison. And the result of that slip-up had been her wagon destroyed, her reputation nearly ruined…she'd lost everything but her hat and cape, and _those_ only because she'd come back for them in the dead of night like some kind of thief and found them sitting amongst a pile of trash and refuse, torn and ruined, taking weeks for her to stitch and repair properly.

And in those weeks, as she'd thought about how everything she had just came crumbling down so fast, she had a lot of time to _think_. Think about how everything had gone wrong. Think about that stupid lavender unicorn, who thought she was so great…when Trixie learned the truth, that Twilight Sparkle had been trained by Princess Celestia herself in the art of magic, her anger had only grown.

_What did Twilight have that she didn't? Why did Twilight deserve the Princess' attentions?_ Had Twilight taught herself the most basic spells? Had Twilight struggled – on her own – to learn the basic schools of magic? Had Twilight ever _worked_ with her magic? Had she ever suffered the humiliation of a spell failing on stage? Of street performing to ponies passing by, occasionally throwing a copper bit or two?

_What made her so special?_

Nothing! Nothing but lucky chance. Fortune. Being in the right place at the right time with the right pony watching.

_Now_, however, that had _changed_. Now _Trixie_ had been in the right place, at the right time, with a pony watching who very much understood her sorrow, her anger, her desire to regain what she once had but which had been _stolen_ from her.

Blackguard walked around Trixie, meeting her eyes with her crimson own. "Show it to me," she said softly. By now, Trixie didn't need to ask what 'it' was. The unicorn's magic reached into her saddlebags, and produced a simple, red cloth wrapped around something two feet long. With a slight twitch of one eye, the cloth unfurled itself, and both Trixie and the illusion of Blackguard were looking at the alicorn's shattered-off horn.

"Still safe," Trixie assured her new teacher. "You worry too much."

Blackguard sat down, as Trixie wrapped the horn back up and slipped it into her saddlebag again. "Here?" She asked. "In Canterlot – the center of their power? I think I must be _insane_ for letting you come here with it. If I thought there had been any other option, you would still be back at the hotel."

"Well, it worked," Trixie said proudly. "Sparkle has the book. Was there every any doubt in the Gr…in me?"

Blackguard's expression changed from relief to bemusement. "Hubris…" she warned at Trixie almost slipping into the third person.

Trixie winced slightly, but Blackguard only chuckled as she stood again, walking over to the book case and inspecting the titles, searching their covers. The unicorn breathed out a sigh of relief at Blackguard taking no action other than to become amused. The alicorn still largely lacked any real ability to affect the physical world without immense concentration or else piggy-backing along Trixie's own magic, but she possessed a sharp tongue and an uncanny ability to read Trixie's thoughts, plumb her memories…and drag them to the fore, if she wanted, forcing Trixie to relive parts of her life that she'd rather forget. Her skill at illusions was also far beyond anything Trixie had ever even dreamed possible, and those illusions could be used to _frightening_ effect.

Not that Blackguard was an unkind teacher. Her tolerance for failure was low, but her punishments never harsh as long as Trixie demonstrated that she understood what had _caused _her failures. The alicorn had, however, made it her pet project to break Trixie of her pride. Hubris, she had warned, was the greatest of sins. Pride, arrogance, presumption – failures or actions taken as a result of ego and overconfidence she was always slow to forgive.

Trixie dragged her thoughts back to the here and now as Blackguard flapped her wings a few times, propelling her illusion over to the other side of the library. "Why do you do that?" The blue unicorn asked after a moment, trotting over to join her teacher. "I've seen you just _pop_ from one place to the next, so why do you still flap your wings?"

"Or blink?" Blackguard asked, winking slightly. "Or breathe? Or walk? Habit, I suppose. One I would not like to lose. It would be most embarrassing for me to regain my physical body, only to trip over my own hooves all the time."

Blackguard had shown Trixie her true form via her illusions – the current one was, apparently, merely a reflection of her current state of mind rather than an accurate representation of how she looked – and the unicorn could do little to suppress a chuckle at the thought of the regal, completed Blackguard stumbling around like a seconds-old foal. Blackguard seemed amused at the thought herself as she returned her focus to the bookcase, and its section on magical theory and practical applications. "This one," she indicated, dragon-like eyes focused on a tall yet thin tome. Trixie used her telekinesis to withdraw the book from the shelf, reading its cover as she did.

"_Cantrips?_" She asked, reading the cover. After a moment, she opened the grimoire, glancing over the spells listed therein. "These…these aren't spells!"

"I think you will find you are quite mistaken. All of them require a unicorn's magic, and could be performed by neither pegasus nor earth pony."

"But they're…they're so _simple_," she objected as she read. "Ghost sounds? Dancing lights? I know half of these already!"

"Excellent. Then you will require little time to master them all." Blackguard responded, as she stood and began to pace around. "I could teach you great and terrible spells, spells of power. I could show you even how to raise the sun or lower the moon. How to boil seas or stop time, or make ponies with whom you had issue…disappear. In short, I could teach you to trespass upon the realms of magic that, before the creation of your tribe, was the sole domain of alicorns. And it would be utterly _useless_."

As Blackguard had talked of the kind of magical wealth she had to offer, it had been all Trixie could do to keep her mouth from watering at the thought of getting her hooves on such spells. Visions of her standing high atop a thin granite plinth – raising seas – directing the stars – creating forests from nothingness – had danced in her head. But the last word had utterly shattered those illusions, and Trixie was taken aback. "H…how could that be _useless?_" She asked.

"Because you are not an alicorn. You are a unicorn, a lesser creature." Blackguard bowed her head. "This is not your fault. Everything has its limits. Even _I_ have _my_ limits, but you are a mortal and so your limits are so much more inhibiting. Though you could, perhaps, with a _tremendous_ exertion of will and power and time, learn to raise the sun or boil the seas, you would probably kill yourself from the effort, and it would require hours or even days of ritual and concentration besides."

"But…" Trixie began, pausing. "Alright. I can understand that. But…I think I can handle _cantrips_."

"I think you can too, but that is not the point," Blackguard said as she continued to pace back and forth. "From the very moment that I came into being, I was capable of making my desires a reality with little more than a thought and a small exertion of willpower. For unicorns, however, it is…different. Your tribe must learn magic in stages, like…like a pyramid. And like a pyramid, though each unicorn may start off with a broad base, he or she eventually finds him or herself narrowing further and further as he or she reach the heights of his or her abilities.

"_You_ are a little different, Trixie. Unlike most unicorns, you had no formal training. You taught yourself, experimented yourself, plumbed the depths of your ability by yourself for most of your life, because you had no other option. This makes you incredibly overpowered for your age and limits in some areas…and incredibly lacking in others. You are a pyramid with large sections missing, and _that_, I cannot allow.

"So. You will master each and every cantrip in that book. Having established a broad, firm base, then, I can continue to plug the holes in your pyramid, and then eventually, start adding to it." She stopped pacing, and her dragon-eyes locked onto Trixie's. "Understood?"

The expression on Blackguard's face made it clear that the black alicorn would brook no argument. "Yes." Trixie responded, her tone carrying more than a little resentment, but also acceptance.

"Excellent," Blackguard said. Her illusory form disappeared suddenly, without show or effect, though her voice lingered as illusions began to wrap around Trixie, cloaking her from view even as the unicorn stowed the book of cantrips in her saddlebags. "Now let us away from this place before Twilight Sparkle begins to question your presence too closely."

* * *

><p><em>Luna tucked her wings and legs against her body, allowing gravity to work its own special magic as she began to shoot downwards towards the black alicorn that <em>dared _to attack her sister._

_Alicorns were not like pegasi, or unicorns, or earth ponies. They did not use magic. They _were_ magic. Despite this, and despite Luna being just as skilled a spell-caster as any other alicorn to have ever existed, the steward of the moon had always felt more comfortable physically performing tasks herself._

_She had forgotten that, initially, as Blackguard had attacked Canterlot in a rage. Her first instinct, when beset by another alicorn, was to fall back on her own magic, and so she had, for the entire battle that so far had lasted for several days and, though it had started in Canterlot, had been waged across all of Equestria._

_But for the entire battle, she had been little more than a distraction in the main combat between Celestia and Blackguard, as they had thrown magic at each other that had not been seen since the battle with Discord himself, so long ago now. Worthy of consideration, yes, but more of a nuisance than a threat, dangerous only in that she distracted Blackguard from engaging Celestia with all her attention._

_Her threat level elevated, quite suddenly, as Blackguard realized that Luna was charging for her with neither fire, nor lightning, nor spell, nor magical blade, but simply with her horn. The dragon-like eyes of the black alicorn widened as she threw up a spell of protection against Celestia's latest magical attack and readied her wings to take her out of the way. She was fast enough to avoid receiving Luna's horn straight through her eye – but not fast enough to avoid being hit entirely as Luna's horn struck Blackguard's own._

_Time slowed, and the fraction of a second that was Luna striking Blackguard stretched on and on and on – until there was an explosion of sound and magic and an alicorn's scream of pain and defiance and denial…but the action could not be taken back, no matter how much Blackguard screamed._

_The horn fell to the earth, far below. Celestia dove for it. Blackguard screamed as she did as well. The black alicorn was the faster – but Luna was faster still, quickly interposing herself between Blackguard and her sister, spreading her wings wide and _shoving_ them forward in a great gust of air that could have stripped all the leaves of all the trees in a healthy, strong forest. Blackguard went flying as Celestia caught the horn in her mouth seconds before landing on the solid ground. Her own horn glowing, she impaled the black horn into the earth as Luna joined her and channeled magic herself, into the horn…and through it, into Blackguard._

_The black alicorn screamed in defiance again, lashing out with magic and sending the horn flying high into the sky and far away – but it was too late. The magical connection between Celestia, Luna, and Blackguard had been made, and with the focus for Blackguard's magic severed from her, she could not fight back against the princesses of the sun and moon. They began chanting, the magic of their spell providing the words that would strengthen its power…_

Luna awoke with a start, instantly on her hooves and reaching out with senses both mundane and arcane, trying to find what it was that had suddenly jolted her awake. After several minutes of searching, however, she realized that it was nothing more than a magical reminder she had prepared in the back of her mind, still going off. A gentle, self-set chime, nothing more.

The Princess of the Moon settled down onto the floor again, looking at the great, white form that slept next to her. Gingerly, the midnight blue alicorn nuzzled her sister's neck.

"Tia," she whispered softly. "It's time to lower the sun."

Celestia didn't move. Luna had known that she wouldn't, but…she'd dared…with a sigh, Luna closed her eyes and reached out with her magic. The sun…resented her presence. That was the best way to describe it, though it was a ludicrous thought as the sun was not alive and had no emotions at all, let alone resentment. Then again, Luna had often thought of the stars as playful, as chasing her across the sky as she strung them up or drew them down at dusk and dawn…they weren't alive as a pony could understand the term, but there was something _vital_ about them. The sun, in all its burning glory, was no different. And it _hated_ Luna's touch and magic for some reason, explaining its black core and cold light.

If – _when_, Luna forcefully corrected herself – Celestia woke up, Luna would have to ask her why, or at least ask her to explain to the sun that she didn't mean it any harm.

The sun, with effort, was lowered beyond the horizon, to its place of sleep. Now, much to her relief, came far more familiar territory. The midnight blue alicorn's magic fled from the west and reached out to the east, where the moon and the stars awaited. Unlike the stubborn sun, they offered no resistance, the moon gliding comfortably into the sky, the stars following one by one. Sometimes they were rambunctious and difficult to convince to move, but over the past few nights, as though knowing of Luna's pain, they had simply slid into their proper locations, spreading her light across Equestria.

Her task completed, Luna again looked to her sister. She leaned down, pressing her forehead to Celestia's own and holding that position for a few minutes, before reaching out with magic, to the guards that stood outside of her and her sister's bed chambers, giving the equivalent of a light tap on the shoulder. After a moment, the doors to her room opened, and one of the guards there – clad in the black armor of the night troops, which also cast a magical glamor over his coat to turn it deep gray and change his wings to appear bat-like – looked in.

"Yes, your highness?" He asked.

"Do you know if there are many petitioners tonight?"

The guard bowed his head slightly. "As there was no day court today, your majesty…yes. Most with questions concerning…" his voice trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence, though he did look to Celestia as he spoke.

Celestia looked down at that, and back to her sister. She had hoped that whatever magic Blackguard had cast would have worn off by now…that she could remain in denial and that her lie to the many petitioners to Canterlot castle would not need to last this long. But as the fifth night since the black alicorn's attack loomed…

Luna stood, magically adorning herself in her crown, shoes, and chest-piece, and sending a stray cantrip through her mane and tail that turned it from normal blue hair into flowing, starry night illusion that she preferred. She then turned to regard her guards.

"Please alert the castle guard that I will be holding night court soon," she said. "And that I will be ending this charade and informing all of Equestria about what happened to my sister."

The guard bowed his head, trotting off, while the other glanced inside as Luna wrapped her sister in her magical aura and lifted her gently, bringing Celestia with her to the throne room. He bowed his head slightly. "With respect," he asked, "will that…end well?"

Luna regarded him for a moment, needing no time at all to understand his reasoning. At present, only Celestia's student, her friends, and the castle guard knew the full details of Blackguard and the attack on Canterlot. There was a strong possibility that the Equestria would form its own opinions on what had happened to place Celestia into slumber…and remember, not so long ago, the threat of Nightmare Moon…

…but those rumors were all but inevitable, anyway, and with a black, cold sun in the sky, probably forming regardless. The princess of the moon inclined her head to the guard.

"I will tell the truth." She said. "And hope that that is enough. But if it is not…if they should react _poorly…_then I expect you and the entire guard will perform admirably."

The guard bowed low at that. "Of course, your majesty."

The throne room felt like it was hosting a wake.

Celestia had been set to rest on the throne, curled in the pillows so as to appear as though she was doing nothing more than napping – which, strictly speaking, was only a minor understatement. Luna, herself, stood next to the throne, eyes switching between her sister and the gathered petitioners of Canterlot castle. Those petitioners had gazes filled with shock and horror and sadness at what they saw, despite constant re-assurances that Celestia was alive, a fact which could be more than evidenced by her deep, steady breathing.

More than a few ponies were in tears, and the sight of that was almost enough to drive Luna, herself, to them. _They love you so much, Tia,_ she thought, closing her eyes. _Looking at this…is it any wonder that I wanted some of this for myself? Can I really be blamed?_

_Yes,_ she responded to herself quickly, even as the last of the petitioners entered the throne room. _Love must be given, not taken, and a thousand years of solitude should have taught you that. Now act like the princess you are and see to the needs of your ponies_.

Luna placed a slight spell over her throat, enough to amplify her voice as she spoke to the whole of the throne room, ensuring that everypony heard her clearly. "Five nights ago," she began, "Canterlot was attacked…"

Luna continued speaking – in common Equestrian, not ancient royal Canterlot, as she did not want her words to be misinterpreted and she really did only use it with Prince Blueblood, regardless – relating everything she knew about the attack, and its aftermath. There were collective gasps and murmurs at many parts of the story and reiterated Blackguard's origins and reasons to the collected petitioners.

She saw few changes to the petitioner's expressions. One stepped forward, and Luna had to fight back the urge to grimace as she saw it was Prince Blueblood. He was from a respected noble herd, he had a right to petition the court, as did any and every pony in Equestria, and despite his loutish behavior he was a relatively skilled diplomat when push came to shove. As she finished explaining how she had tried everything she could think of to wake her sister, she acknowledged his presence with a nod and granted him leave to speak with a wave of her hoof.

"Have you tried true love's kiss?" The stallion asked, a touch too hopefully.

It was all Luna could do to keep herself from banishing Blueblood right then and there – either in the traditional sense of exiling him from the court, or in a more extravagant, arcane sense of to the sun or moon, or perhaps one of the stars. "That will not work." Luna said instead. "I have examined the spell thoroughly. It will end only with Blackguard's defeat."

"You're certain – ?" Blueblood began, before one of the black-armored night guards took a single step in his direction. Nothing more, but it was enough to get the white stallion to retreat several paces and bow his head respectfully.

_This is exactly why I hold court at night_, Luna mused. _Lonely though it can be, at least fools like him are usually asleep…_

"This plot," said a gray-coated pegasus, ruffling his feathers slightly, "comes surprisingly quickly on the heels of other, more recent events. Discord's release, the chaos at the gala, a dragon nearly covering Equestria in smoke…I wonder if there is any common link."

"Or point of origin," a noble mare continued.

Luna was innumerable millennia old, and so was no stranger in recognizing subterfuge and double-meaning. "To my knowledge," she said, raising a hoof and then placing it down firmly, not quite stamping but certainly highlighting her point, "this is unrelated to _any_ of those events…and is further unrelated to my return from exile."

She left out that she knew for a _fact_ that the gala incident was Celestia's own doing. No need for the noble ponies to know what her big sister did sometimes to starve off ennui.

The mare bowed low. "Forgive me, your highness, I did not mean to suggest that there was any relation between Blackguard and Nightmare Moon."

_Yes you did, and now you've made sure that everypony here is thinking it,_ Luna mentally grumbled. She stood. "Someone," she said, "has found the shattered horn of Blackguard. I would ask that at the closing of this court, you all return to your domains and use your resources to begin searching for it and whoever has it. Unfortunately, I do not know where that pony is, or where they intend to go." She looked to her guards. "You will have the full cooperation of the royal guards to undertake any action, within reason, you deem necessary to find it."

The nobility looked somewhat surprised at Luna's declaration. "Surely the royal guard alone is sufficient?" One asked.

"You will forgive me," Luna responded, "if merely being _sufficient_ is not enough where my sister's well-being is concerned, as I am certain the guard themselves will agree. The noble herds have access to resources that the royal guard alone does not."

The nobility talked amongst themselves. Luna wasn't quite certain what was going on at the surprised and concerned looks on their faces and in their whispers. Didn't they want to save their princess from her eternal slumber? "Is there a problem?" She asked after a moment.

"It is…" one of the nobles finally spoke up, "it is…_unprecedented_, for such an order to come down, your majesty. Your sister preferred a hooves-off approach to her rule."

"I see," Luna said. "And I understand my sister's reasoning for this. But this is not an _order_. It is a _request_, from your princess, to the noble herds."

The nobles seemed unsure. Luna instantly grasped why – was there such a _thing_ as a difference between a request and an order when it came from an immortal alicorn princess? Celestia and Luna had always ruled with a light touch, preferring suggestions and encouragements, and those always typically veiled. The ponies were free-willed, sentient beings and needed to be left to their own devices. Luna and Celestia were princesses in name only – in practice, they saw themselves as stewards and guardians.

But that was now working against her. The noble herds didn't _want_ Luna to make requests – or give orders. They saw it as stepping on their hooves. The nobles still debated amongst themselves, and Luna had received neither confirmation nor denial when the throne room doors opened, and a black-armored night guard took a few steps in. "Twilight Sparkle and companions, requesting an audience, your majesty," he announced.

Luna nodded immediately, thankful for the interruption. A few moments later, the doors were opened widely, and the representatives of the noble herds made way for the six ponies and one baby dragon that strode into the throne room, looks of grim determination on all of their faces – Pinkie Pie's almost comically so, while Rarity's nearly dropped into one of utter panic when she saw Prince Blueblood, though the white unicorn hid her distaste well.

Somewhat more amusing was the looks on the faces of the nobility at the sight of the six and their dragon companion. More than a few whispers went back and forth as the gathered noble ponies recognized them – the purifiers of Nightmare Moon, the vanquishers of Discord, the movers of the slumbering dragon…_and_ the ones who had wrecked so much havoc at the Grand Galloping Gala. Nobility being what it was, they focused on the last more than anything.

Twilight Sparkle, in addition to carrying an expression of determination, carried a more physical item – a book, an old-looking one at that, clasped tightly in her magical grasp. "Princess Luna," she said, holding the book forward and offering a resolute smile. "We know what Blackguard is up to. We know what she's planning. We know where she's going. And we know how to stop her."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>  
>This is an obligatory note detailing that Nyx, referenced up there, is a reference to the legendary pony Nyx, that the more familiar, "reincarnation of Nightmare Moon" Nyx from the most excellent fanfic <em>Past Sins<em> by Pen Stroke, is named after in that fic.

This is not an attempt on my part to claim that I view this fic and _Past Sins_ as taking place in the same universe. It's a shout-out, nothing more, a nod to what I, at least, considered to be a thoroughly enjoyable character piece.


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